There is a great article about District B13 with interviews of David Belle and Cyril Raffaelli online at KungFu Magazine. A quote from Cyril "David and I showed them demo tapes of what we did live," Raffaelli says with a straight face. "In my demo, I do a somersault from one building to another, on the 15th floor. No mattress, no nothing. We have absolute confidence in ourselves". Check it out here . Discuss it here.
Seems like Parkour "Social Networking" sites are springing up all over. At APK we've always held community first, and have places for people to keep profiles, blogs, and upload pictures and videos. Of course you must be a registered member to see this, then you can add photos and videos to our image gallery , and you can keep a profile and blog in the "My APK menu" which appears only for logged-in members. You can also search our member list , or find people near you in our "Locals Only " forums. Check out the ParkourSpace Page, and UF's version .
2007 Was a great year for American Parkour, Primal Fitness, and the Tribe. Here are some moments to look back on:
January - Primal Fitness, the world's first and still only dedicated Parkour training facility opens in Washington DC. Tribe members Levi Meeuwenberg "Skynative", Ryan Ford "Demon" and Michael Zernow "Frosti" perform at Nokia sales meeting .
February - Tribe Members Levi Meeuwenberg, Michael Zernow, Tyson Cecka, and Mark Toorock film K-SWISS Parkour / Freerunning commercials in Los Angeles.
April - Tribe rocks BET's UpFront Party in New York. Levi Meeuwenberg "Skynative" and Michael Zernow "Frosti" in TV Pilot of "Chuck". Primal Fitness on NBC news - story goes on to air several times globally on MSNBC. NYParkour blunders national jam - no jam. Colorado Parkour and Mark Toorock "M2" featured in Parkour article in The New Yorker Magazine . Time Magazine puts out crappy Parkour article.
June - Tribe Members featured in Mountain Dew piece on Current TV . A busy month for Parkour in the Media including the New York Times , Ryan Ford and Mark Toorock on a live radio show , Tony "Rek" Scroggins in 944 Magazine , Esquire Magazine, and Washington Parkour on King5 News . Tribe members kick butt at the K-SWISS sales meeting .
July - National Jam in Chicago rocks! M2 kicked ou- oh uhm. Yeah, something with a watermelon.
August - National Jam in Denver - best event of the year! Tribe members and Mark Toorock appear on ABC's iCaught in a feature segment . Jesse Woody teaches at Blauer seminar in Florida.
September - "Frosti" Michael Zernow is on the TV show Survivor . Walking with Dinosaurs Stars train and jam at Primal Fitness .
October - David Belle comes to New York for the New Yorker festival . Red Bull hosts a Freerunning competition in Austria.
November - Demon (Ryan Ford) and Colorado Parkour featured on ESPN's E:60 . Mark Toorock gives a talk about Parkour at American University. A crew in Chicago performs at the Greenbuild Live expo.
December - Yet another fantastic Santa Parkour video from the guys up north. APK hits 25,000 registered members.
Last summer Colorado Parkour hosted a jam of monstrous proportions. We had over 70 traceurs from all around the country moving around and learning! It was the most memorable jam of my life and I know I have the traceurs to thank for that. That includes everyone who traveled whether it was a jog from the apartment, a car ride across the country, or a plane ride over the US. - LeoNn Read more to see how K-SWISS helped get a few of us out there to share in the fun ...
The Night Climbers of Cambridge is a book about buildering, way before the term buildering was coined. In reading just the first three chapters, the parallels with Parkour are astounding, everything from how to begin to safety issues to differences of opinion about keeping it underground. Most fascinating though is the direct parallel to climbing being about overcoming fear, and that you must take small steps to overcome your fears or you will simply verify your natural fears and confirm them rather than being able to overcome them. There are some amazing pictures of guys from the 1930's climbing to peaks at Cambridge University - the kind of stuff that makes your stomach drop just looking at it! The book was recently remastered and republished very caringly by Jon Gifford of Oleander Press Read more for a brief excerpt and another photo. - Update, the publisher has just offered 15% off for APK members - please email me to get a special coupon code, order must be placed by 1/04/08! More info www.nightclimbers.co.uk order here www.oleanderpress.com
I'm "home" for the holidays, visiting with my parents and my wife's parents. I got a call this morning from my dad, expecting the usual computer question. Instead, he told me I had made the big time, I was in the local paper, and this time not in "Police beat" :) True enough, the Metrowest Daily News (suburbs of Boston, MA) has rerun the story that originally appeared in the Toledo Blade last October by Ryan Smith featuring APK member "The Sheeve".
Oh Noes! Santa's in trouble! It seems the Suspender League has plans for old Saint Nick and has kidnapped him ... will he be delayed from bringing toys to all the good boys and girls? Watch and see. (please right-cllick and save as, 50MB file!)
Just in time for the new year, and just over 2 years after APK.com went live, we have 25,000 registerd members! While it's safe to say that all of those Parkour and Freerunning enthusiasts are not active participants, the main reason for people to sign up is to see the Parkour Tutorials or to chat on the message boards, not for the casual viewer. Thanks to all of the members of the American Parkour community, it is everyone collectively who make this site what it is!
This Sunday 630pm CST, PBS (WYCC) will be airing a short piece on the Chicago Parkour Community . It was filmed at Loyola University on one of the coldest days in November, nonetheless it turned out well. Its a good example of being prepared for any type of environment. Thanks go to the many new traceurs who toughed it out to be a part of this piece.
